England coach Eddie Jones remained tight-lipped over the controversial decisions that helped Wales win their Six Nations clash in Cardiff but there was no shortage of debate among pundits.
Wales scored four tries against England for the first time in 23 years and ran out deserved 40-24 winners after cashing in on the visitors’ indiscipline.
However, it was the tries by Josh Adams and Liam Williams that have everyone talking.
French referee Pascal Gauzere instructed England captain Owen Farrell to speak to his players after a spate of early penalties.
They were just emerging from that huddle under the posts, some still taking on drinks, when the referee signalled for the game to restart.
Wales No.10 Dan Biggar immediately sent a high kick into the unguarded corner for Adams to catch and score.
A furious Farrell remonstrated with the referee, saying “you have to give us time to reset”, but was brushed aside.
Not long after, Wales wing Louis Rees-Zammit dropped the ball in flight, throwing his head back in dismay, and though Williams scooped it up to score, everyone on the pitch appeared to assume play would be called back for a knock-on.
However, the TMO ruled that Rees-Zammit had dropped it on to his leg and so, even though it travelled forwards, it did not count as a knock-on.
Jones held his tongue in his post-match interview with the BBC.
“They’re huge decisions, we can’t debate it – we are not allowed to debate it. All I will end up with is a fine and that won’t help anyone,” he said.
Former England captain and coach Martin Johnson was less diplomatic.
“I’m speechless, that is appalling refereeing,” he said of the first try in his role as a TV analyst.
“His wingers have come in 30 yards to be part of the conversation and he’s given them two seconds to get back.”
Former Wales captain Sam Warburton agreed: “I would be fuming if I was Owen Farrell – you cannot respond in half a second,” he said.
The two former British and Irish Lions captains disagreed over the knock-on, however, with Warburton saying it was a technically correct decision and Johnson saying it would be ruled a knock-on in 98 per cent of matches.
Kane
Roar Guru
Fair call although the strip on the ground was definitely called correctly so if that wasn't called then the referee would be wrong. My observations also don't take into account any time he should have been penalised but wasn't which I'm, sure if I rewatched the game I could find a couple of occasions.
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
Sliding doors Kane. On another day with another ref both those strips are OK (we've all seen it happen) and he's not incorrectly called offside. He finally gets the bounce of the ball after a charge down and scores a try. He's then motm rather than Faletau, who got it for simply being on the winning side. Small margins.
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
"surely there are better second rowers who are not such penalty magnets in Gallagher?" Half of that might be right.
Time for a captains challenge in the 6N?
Brian
Guest
The treatment the reporter handed to Wales captain was completely disrespectful. And to follow it up with England captain interview was a disgrace to the television network. Both Jones and Farrell showed far more respect to the game than the reporter.
Kane
Roar Guru
I've seen videos claiming Itoje was wrongfully penalised for all of his penalties, this isn't remotely true. Of the five, 2 were for lineout infringements which were valid, one was for stripping the ball on the ground which was valid, the offside one was wrong as the ball was out and had been out for some time so the referee got that wrong. The final one was for a deliberate knock down when he played the ball while the Welsh 9 was in the process of passing. Could have gone either way I think, he played at the ball and deliberately tried to knock it out of the 9's possession. Did he have any realistic chance of catching it? Probably not.
Tom G
Roar Rookie
The referee was terrible but England had eighty minutes to work him out. Eddie has so much talent to pick a side from and yet rarely if ever makes any changes to personnel and even less with tactics
CUW
Roar Rookie
for all the talk about ITOJE - how many penalties has he given in these 3 matches? there was 5 in this match out of 14 and maybe a similar amount in the scotland match. surely there are better second rowers who are not such penalty magnets in Gallagher ? Eddies policy to stick with his favorites is not going well particularly when guys like Symonds Dombrandt Marcus et al are playing so well in Gallagher....
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
Agree Neil, despite two post match interviews designed to elicit angry controversial responses, Jones and Farrell refused to bite and took ownership of the loss. What happened in the last 15 minutes is what they should be concerned about. And Itoje failing to recognise that ref’s love affair with him is over, he’s being penalised for law breaches, and his antics are costing his team.
CUW
Roar Rookie
Farrell has lost it - not in any form at all. pushed out to 12 coz no spark at 10. he is in there purely on reputation this year , wasnt good even in the previous series. honestly think - when the game is done and he is gone , will people remember him as one of the great 10s or 12s ? doubt very much
Agree Neil…They had that game in their control and they failed….And they havnt blamed anyone….. And i dont like the simpathy for the reporter who was pushing for controversy at every question….Thats the way it seems to be these days where they want controversy rather than facts……Maybe its time to limit time from reporters to the post match conference…You give them an inch etc…
Spew_81
Roar Rookie
Farrell and Jones took the loss with class and blamed themselves. There was quite a bit of backlash towards the reporter for asking questions about refereeing decisions; a bit of it unjustified. It’s a waste of time trying to get players and coaches to criticise the referees. For one they are likely to get fined, and there is no point antagonising the referee. I applaud tough and persistent questioning. But there is a limited amount of time for post match interviews; especially the ones on the pitch. Why waste the time with questions that can’t really be answered? Why not start with your question – why couldn’t they kick on to win after getting back into the game?
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
None of this is the point. The point is England brought the game back to 24-24 and failed to kick on in the last 20. They may be personnel down but this used to be a strength. No real bench impact, little game management and consistent infringements handing momentum back. I haven’t heard anyone from the England camp criticising the officiating and I hope I don’t. They have themselves to blame collectively.
GibbonRib
Roar Rookie
Absolutely. Plus an obvious give away is about half the England team were aware of the danger - the England left wing was back in position and a couple of guys on the right saw the threat. Biggar was alert, Farrell wasn't
Spew_81
Roar Rookie
Regarding the restart controversy. England has a consistent habit of wasting time so their big men can get their fitness back. Good to see referees not putting up with their time wasting ways. Also if they were trained to play ‘heads up’ rugby, not following a pattern. They would’ve seen the obvious risk.